CNY Again.. Snooze....

It's that time of year again... when pretty much 90% of Singapore shuts down to celebrate CNY. I was out at Vivocity on CNY Eve on Sunday and it was mildly depressing to see shops shutting down at 4pm. Other than the sumptuous reunion dinner, the rest of CNY is usually pretty boring. So this year, I decided to try something pretty uncharacteristic of me and go try the HSBC Treetop Walk! Below are the pics of this historic event.

I felt that while the Treetop walk was kinda interesting, it was a little underwhelming. I guess when you take the effort to walk about an hour to the bridge, I was expecting something a little more awesome. The bridge was not really that high and the view wasn't that breathtaking. It was nice. But not 'oh-my-goodness-take-my-breath-away' nice. Thought it would have been awesomer if the bridge was at least much higher. But since Singapore is pretty flat, I guess we don't have many valleys/treetops to build a taller bridge. The other small complain is the walk itself. After going on some breathtaking trails like the Kikuchi Gorge in Kumamoto, it's hard to be excited with the MacRitchie Trails. I kept wishing there would be some river or waterfall to add some life/movement to the place. The good thing was the weather was nice - sunny but not too hot, and the place was quite empty. In fact, I think 9 out of 10 people I met were foreigners. Guess Singaporeans were busy with CNY festivities. I particularly like Jelutong Tower. In the end, I think the treetop walk is a nice experience, worth at least one try. BUt I doubt I will ever make the effort to walk all the way there again. At least I'd tried it once!

Here are some pics of my first every voluntary CNY forest walk.

Entrance to the trail from Venus Road.

Monkeys. Just like any normal Singaporean, the sight of a monkey was quite exciting.

So after about an hour, I finally reached the entrance of the Treetop walk.

View as I entered the bridge.

View from the middle of the bridge.

Here's a pic looking back when I reached the end of the bridge.

Jelutong Tower - an observation tower with a nice view.

A view of MacRitchie Reservoir as I exited the trail from Jelutong Tower.

Good Start to 2009

The last two months of 2008 zoomed by and I'm glad I'm finally settling into 2009. With a month spent in Japan, a week and a half in Vietnam and a week in Yogyakarta, the year certainly ended with a bang. To start off the year on an equally exciting note, I was off to Bintan with some of the students from my Sec 1 form class in 2005 - Sec 1Q.


I think the last time I was in Bintan was almost 10yrs ago. Nothing much has changed really and I think the resorts, shops, etc is really nothing fantastic. But the one thing which made the trip great was the fun we had. Although it's been more than 2 years since I left RI, I was really glad we were able to catch up with each other before they went off to Junior College. Must say thanks to Zongyi for putting in so much effort in pulling the trip together since we begain planning it 6 months ago.


To the 1Q guys who still drop by this blog, thanks again for remembering me as your FT and I want to wish you all the best as you enter the world of co-ed education. Lol.

from left side: Aaron Tiong, Zheng Yi, Joshun Tung, Ernie, Zongyi, De Sheng, Jun Xiang, Chee Yeow, Vince, Me

When we returned to Singapore on 7 Jan, I dropped by RI together with a few of the 1Q-ers to try and catch the finale for the Sec 1 Camp. Unfortunately we were a little late. However, I was really glad to catch most of the Sec 4 PSLs who were from my 2006 Sec 1 form class - 1M. Really guys, it's hard to imagine that you guys are now Sec 4s and PSLs too! Thank you so much for the warm welcome. I was really glad to see you guys. Not sure if we will still have a chance to meet up (though I certainly hope so) so let me wish you a great Sec 4 year ahead.

from left: Kwek Wei Han, Kirk, Isaac, Anurak, Me, Davin, Adil, Ted, Ashraf, Kieng, Chia Wei Han and Ye Zhou

With that, I think I'm gonna have to settle back to work. It's been 2 months since I've seriously started work and now I've gotta start getting business together or I might have to live off air alone for the next half year. In a strange sort of way, I am looking forward to 2009. I think it is going to be a good year.